and your not the only one to bring that reason up as to why we shouldn't call the team after fish. Sockeyes and Steeelheads are perfect NHL names. Steelheads is the state fish.
Truth is, both of those names sound pretty good for a hockey team. They have a bit of an aggressive sound to the ear, and they represent the PNW.
Quick history of how North American teams got these plural "mascot" nicknames, whereas most sports teams in the rest of the world don't have them: The first organized baseball team was guys from the Knickerbocker Club in New York, a men's social and athletic club. Soon, others, like the Atlantic Club, the Mutual Club (mostly guys who worked in the stock market), the Athletic Club in Philadelphia, etc. picked up the sport. Once the sport became popular enough to be covered in the press, writers took to calling them the (New York) "Knickerbockers," the "Mutuals," the (Philadelphia) "Athletics," etc. for short, instead of writing out the whole name of the club each time. It was catchy and worked well in the popular press (easier to set in the old linotype days), and when new baseball teams were formed, owners and sportswriters copied the mascot name style, even when the new teams weren't connected to an athletic or social club.
In Canada, the oldest remaining pro hockey team was originally part of the Club Athletique de Canadien, This athletic club's hockey team became the Canadiens. As in baseball, newer hockey teams used the plural mascot style, one exception being that for a while Ottawa was called the Silver Seven, not the "Sevens."
So by history and regional heritage, any of these names would be good ones, and I don't think an outsider like me really should have any say, although I'm partial to historical team names like "Metropolitans," but I don't think that's going to happen. Seattle's owner and fans should get their choice and I'm sure it'll be a good one.
